Aurora Theatre Company's SPEECH & DEBATE Plays 6/11-7/18

Closing Aurora Theatre Company's 18th season is the Bay Area Premiere of Stephen Karam's fiercely funny SPEECH & DEBATE. Robin Stanton (Betrayed, The Busy World is Hushed, and Permanent Collection) directs this distinctive new play Entertainment Weekly called "One of the top ten plays of the year...Even if you're not fluent in IM, you'll LOL at this subversive comedy." Featuring Jayne Deely, Jason Frank, Maro Guevara, and Holly Hornlien, SPEECH & DEBATE plays June 11 through July 18 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($34-55) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Contains mature themes and subject matters.

Sex. Secrets. Performance art video blogs with a 90's pop beat. In SPEECH & DEBATE, three teenage misfits in Salem, Oregon discover they are curiously connected by a scandal that's rocked their hometown. When the trio (a "drama geek," a "queeny boy," and a budding school newspaper reporter) form an unlikely alliance to seek out and disclose the truth, secrets become currency, the stakes escalate, and their connection grows deeper in the quest for fame, free speech, and the perfect Broadway musical number. Hailed by Variety as a "savvy comedy...bristling with vitality, wicked humor, terrific dialogue and a direct pipeline into the zeitgeist of contemporary youth," SPEECH & DEBATE questions what, if anything, it means to be an adult.

Director Robin Stanton returns to Aurora Theatre Company where she helmed last season's hit West Coast Premiere of George Packer's Betrayed; additional Aurora directing credits include Thomas Gibbons' Permanent Collection and the West Coast Premiere of The Busy World is Hushed. Stanton has directed productions and developmental readings for theaters including Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens, and Chicago Dramatists. Often credited with helping to launch the career of acclaimed playwright Rebecca Gilman, Stanton championed Gilman's work in Chicago, resulting in the production of The Glory of Living at Circle Theatre, which garnered Stanton the After Dark Award and Jefferson Citation for Best Direction. Additionally, she served as Producing Artistic Director at Spokane Interplayers Ensemble and was recognized as a finalist for the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

Aurora Theatre Company has assembled a talented ensemble of young actors for SPEECH & DEBATE. Making their debuts at Aurora Theatre Company are Jayne Deely (Diwata), Jason Frank (Solomon), and Maro Guevara (Howie). Jayne Deely most recently appeared in the West Coast Premiere of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles at Brava Theater, where she also appeared in the company's production of Friends. Other credits include productions at TheatreWorks (Distracted), SF Shakespeare Festival, and Marin Shakespeare Company. Maro Guevara is a graduate of the University of San Francisco, where he majored in Fine Arts. Credits include roles in Urinetown (ASUSF College Players) and Metamorphoses (USF's Performing Arts and Social Justice Program); he recently made his San Francisco Fringe Festival debut in Tempestous(ness) from Performers Under Stress. Jason Frank is currently a member of the MFA class of 2012 at American Conservatory Theater; he has been seen in professional Theater Productions at Redfeather Theatre Company and Foothills Theatre Company.

Holly Hornlien (Reporter/Teacher) returns to Aurora Theatre Company, where she appeared in the company's Bay Area Premiere of Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol. Additional credits include productions at Center REPertory Company (The Women), TheatreFIRST (Loveplay), and Willows Theatre (Noises Off), as well as productions at Interplayers Ensemble, Chicago Dramtists, Chicago Shakespeare, and Drury Lane Theatre.

Musical Director Billy Philadelphia has performed in the Bay Area for over 25 years. Philadelphia previously served as Musical Director for Aurora Theatre Company's hit production of Mae West's SEX!, and, along with his wife, chanteuse Meg Mackay, Philadelphia staged A Little Cole in Your Stocking at Aurora Theatre Company. A versatile pianist and entertainer, Philadelphia accompanied the incomparable Dame Edna in her hit show The Royal Tour at Theatre on the Square. Additionally, his production of Hoagy, a tribute to the legendary songwriter/actor Hoagy Carmichael, had a successful San Francisco run and was re-mounted at the historic Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, where it received rave reviews. In addition to his stage work, Philadelphia was Musical Director for several Bay Area television shows, including "AM San Francisco," "SFO," and "Good Time Café," and held a long-running spot as "The Man About Town" for KNBR radio.

Stephen Karam is the author of SPEECH & DEBATE, which premiered at the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2007 as the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground. He is the co-author of columbinus (2006 Helen Hayes nomination), which ran off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop following a co-production by Round House/Perseverance Theatres, and the author of Girl on Girl, which debuted as a workshop production at Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre. He is currently working on a new play commission for Roundabout Theatre Company and a screenplay adaptation of the GLAAD Media-nominated SPEECH & DEBATE for Overture Films. In addition to his writing for the stage and screen, Stephen Karam's writing has also appeared in The Advocate and McSweeney's; he is a graduate oF Brown University.

Following SPEECH & DEBATE, Aurora Theatre Company opens its 19th season in August with Alice Childress' stunning TROUBLE IN MIND, starring Bay Area favorite Margo Hall and directed by Robin Stanton. Acclaimed solo performer David Cale returns to the Bay Area in October with the Bay Area Premiere of his new one-man play PALOMINO. In January, Aurora Theatre Company presents the second main stage production to develop from its Global Age Project, the World Premiere of Allison Moore's COLLAPSE, directed by Jessica Heidt; as a National New Play Network World Premiere, the play will be produced at Curious Theatre Company (Denver) and Kitchen Dog Theater Company (Dallas) following the Aurora's lead production. In honor of Tennessee Williams' 100th birthday, Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross helms Williams' rarely-produced stage gem THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE in April. Closing the season is the first American professional production of British director David Farr and Icelandic actor-director Gísli Örn Gardarsson's thrilling avant garde adaptation of Franz Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS, directed by Bay Area auteur Mark Jackson in June.

Nominated for 27 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for 2009, Aurora Theatre Company continues to offer challenging, literate, intelligent stage works to the Bay Area, each year increasing its reputation for top-notch theater. Located in the heart of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District, Aurora Theatre Company has been called "one of the most important regional theaters in the area" and "a must-see midsize company" by the San Francisco Chronicle, while The Wall Street Journal has "nothing but praise for the Aurora." The Contra Costa Times stated "perfection is probably an unattainable ideal in a medium as fluid as live performance, but the Aurora Theatre comes luminously close," while the San Jose Mercury News affirmed "[Aurora Theatre Company] lives up to its reputation as a theater that feeds the mind," and the Oakland Tribune declared "it's all about choices, and if you value good theater, choose the Aurora."

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